Blog Tracker
11-05-2024, 06:20
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://boakandbailey.com/2024/05/news-nuggets-and-longreads-11-may-2024-daybreak-express/)
Every Saturday we pull together the best of the previous week’s writing about beer and pubs. This time we’ve got White Shield, Leeds and dark mild.
First, a couple of bits of news:
James Watt has stepped aside as CEO of BrewDog, taking on a non-executive role. Douglas Fraser at the BBC suggests (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqqn1r4plqxo) this is about getting the house in order before the company floats on the stock market. The ongoing story about BrewDog Waterloo (https://davidjesudason.substack.com/p/brewdog-waterloo-sexism-workers) might also have been a factor but why this scandal might be the final straw, and not any of those that preceded, is unclear.
Thornbridge has taken custody of a Burton union set (https://thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/blogs/head-brewers-blog/thornbridge-union) from Carslberg-Marston’s, preserving at least a small piece of British brewing history. The move was facilitated by Garrett Oliver. Thornbridge’s head brewer, Rob Lovatt, says “there will certainly be some special cask beers being produced on them shortly”.
Heineken has announced that it is refurbishing and reopening 62 pubs across the UK (https://beertoday.co.uk/2024/05/07/heineken-pubs-0524/). It’s good to have a story about pubs opening, and staying as pubs, although we don’t personally tend to think of the Star Pubs brand as a mark of quality. The Pub Curmudgeon has commentary (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2024/05/flight-to-suburbs.html).
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/whiteshieldcar.jpgAt Pellicle Pete Brown has written about the demise of Worthington White Shield (https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2024/5/1/this-is-the-end-the-sad-demise-of-worthington-white-shield), the legendary bottle-conditioned IPA that ceased production in 2023:
The white shield was the family crest, still visible above the door of what used to be William Worthington’s town house in Burton. It appeared as a logo on the beer in the 1870s, and by the end of the nineteenth century drinkers called it “White Shield.” It was officially renamed in 1950… As a revival of interest in traditional British beer styles grew following the birth and rapid growth of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in the early 1970s, White Shield gained both notoriety and a cult following as one of only five remaining bottle conditioned ales available in Britain. It was a lifeline in places where cask ale was of poor quality, or non-existent. Pouring it perfectly and leaving the sediment in the bottle became the ultimate test of any drinker or bartender’s skill.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/garden_gate_leeds_dyson.jpgSOURCE: Chris Dyson.Chris Dyson at Real Ale, Real Music has been to Leeds where he visited a newly reopened heritage pub, The Garden Gate (https://chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2024/05/through-garden-gate-to-tetley.html), which has gone right up our must-visit list:
The corridor, with its tiling, etched windows, and rich mahogany is impressive enough, but I walked into the vault which was a stunning room with many remarkable features. An amazing ceramic bar counter with an elaborate mahogany bar back lay at the end of the room, which also featured an attractive mosaic floor. In the middle of the room there was a fireplace with a faience surround, with a moulded plasterwork ceiling above. The pub had been developed in Edwardian times, with the interior pretty much untouched since 1902 when it was rebuilt for its owner, a Mr Edward Wilson by architect W.Mason Coggill fom nearby Stourton, with much of the work on the pub done by the local companies Burmantofts and J. Claughton.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/mild_type_illustration.jpgAt Craft Beer and Brewing Josh Weikert has a substantial piece about how to brew mild (https://beerandbrewing.com/wild-for-mild/), drawing on advice from Ron Pattinson and Martyn Cornell:
For his part, Pattinson is an evangelist for the use of sugars—especially No. 3 invert sugar—as well as caramel to achieve mild’s characteristic flavors. While No. 1 is the lightest invert sugar, No. 3 is medium-dark with some molasses-like flavors. “U.S. versions [of mild] are too harsh because they’re using black malt and roasted barley,” he says. “It’s easier to get dark fruit flavors from sugars than it is from malts. Just look at Timothy Taylor Golden [Best] and Dark [Mild]—the only difference is caramel!” Notably, Timothy Taylor—the English brewery best known for its award-winning flagship pale ale, Landlord—markets its Golden Best as a “golden mild ale.”
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/le_coq_eoghan_walsh.jpgSOURCE: Eoghan Walsh.On Substack, where he seems to be most comfortable writing these days, Eoghan Walsh has shared another vignette from drinking in Brussels (https://substack.com/home/post/p-144430760). It’s notable for, among other pleasures, this description of drinking non-alcoholic beer:
There is no warmth to it. It is just a cold glass of sort-of beer, and I drink it too quickly like a lemonade. It leaves no trace behind. Worse, it creates its own disappointment, digging a hole in me and failing to fill it with something else. It’s like a yawn that doesn’t catch.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/youngs_logo.jpgAt Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Ron Pattinson (it’s that man again) has been sharing recipes for Young’s beers from the 1970s (https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/05/1970-youngs-ordinary-bitter-pa.html):
A surprise about Young’s 1970s records, is that there’s quite a bit single-gyle brewing… There’s just pale malt, though three different lots, from two different maltsters. (Four, actually, as there’s some enzymic malt.) Accompanied by quite a bit of flaked maize and a little bit of No. 1 invert sugar. As well as malt extract, which I assume was in liquid form… Two types of English hops were used. With no indication of variety. Or age. It’s one of the few areas where the logs are weak. Though it does mention that 25% weren’t added to the copper, but to the hop back. Hence the zero minute addition.
This is especially interesting because, as those of you who’ve read our book Brew Britannia will know, Young’s Bitter was one of the beers that inspired the founding of CAMRA (https://boakandbailey.com/2017/09/the-ram-rampant/), with its legendary dry bitterness. Except Ron’s recipe doesn’t really suggest it was any more bitter than most other beers of the time. When we asked about this on Mastodon (https://mastodon.online/deck/@patto1ro/112405095133111107), Ron said that perhaps it was more highly attenuated. (More of the sugars were fermented out.) Hmm.
Finally, from Instagram, news of a very special pub opening in Wales (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/10/beloved-cardiff-pub-demolished-in-2012-reopens-after-brick-by-brick-rebuild-on-new-site)…
View this post on Instagram
(https://www.instagram.com/p/C5VjmTii_Ep/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
A post shared by Amgueddfa Cymru (@museumwales) (https://www.instagram.com/p/C5VjmTii_Ep/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
For more good reading check out Stan Hieronymus’s round-up from Monday (https://appellationbeer.com/blog/monday-beer-reading-whales-haters-a-tap-list-from-hell/) and Alan McLeod’s from Thursday (https://abetterbeerblog427.com/2024/05/09/only-one-thing-overshadows-eurovision-could-it-be-these-thursday-beery-news-notes/).
News, nuggets and longreads 11 May 2024: Daybreak Express (https://boakandbailey.com/2024/05/news-nuggets-and-longreads-11-may-2024-daybreak-express/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2024/05/news-nuggets-and-longreads-11-may-2024-daybreak-express/)
Every Saturday we pull together the best of the previous week’s writing about beer and pubs. This time we’ve got White Shield, Leeds and dark mild.
First, a couple of bits of news:
James Watt has stepped aside as CEO of BrewDog, taking on a non-executive role. Douglas Fraser at the BBC suggests (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqqn1r4plqxo) this is about getting the house in order before the company floats on the stock market. The ongoing story about BrewDog Waterloo (https://davidjesudason.substack.com/p/brewdog-waterloo-sexism-workers) might also have been a factor but why this scandal might be the final straw, and not any of those that preceded, is unclear.
Thornbridge has taken custody of a Burton union set (https://thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/blogs/head-brewers-blog/thornbridge-union) from Carslberg-Marston’s, preserving at least a small piece of British brewing history. The move was facilitated by Garrett Oliver. Thornbridge’s head brewer, Rob Lovatt, says “there will certainly be some special cask beers being produced on them shortly”.
Heineken has announced that it is refurbishing and reopening 62 pubs across the UK (https://beertoday.co.uk/2024/05/07/heineken-pubs-0524/). It’s good to have a story about pubs opening, and staying as pubs, although we don’t personally tend to think of the Star Pubs brand as a mark of quality. The Pub Curmudgeon has commentary (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2024/05/flight-to-suburbs.html).
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/whiteshieldcar.jpgAt Pellicle Pete Brown has written about the demise of Worthington White Shield (https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2024/5/1/this-is-the-end-the-sad-demise-of-worthington-white-shield), the legendary bottle-conditioned IPA that ceased production in 2023:
The white shield was the family crest, still visible above the door of what used to be William Worthington’s town house in Burton. It appeared as a logo on the beer in the 1870s, and by the end of the nineteenth century drinkers called it “White Shield.” It was officially renamed in 1950… As a revival of interest in traditional British beer styles grew following the birth and rapid growth of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in the early 1970s, White Shield gained both notoriety and a cult following as one of only five remaining bottle conditioned ales available in Britain. It was a lifeline in places where cask ale was of poor quality, or non-existent. Pouring it perfectly and leaving the sediment in the bottle became the ultimate test of any drinker or bartender’s skill.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/garden_gate_leeds_dyson.jpgSOURCE: Chris Dyson.Chris Dyson at Real Ale, Real Music has been to Leeds where he visited a newly reopened heritage pub, The Garden Gate (https://chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2024/05/through-garden-gate-to-tetley.html), which has gone right up our must-visit list:
The corridor, with its tiling, etched windows, and rich mahogany is impressive enough, but I walked into the vault which was a stunning room with many remarkable features. An amazing ceramic bar counter with an elaborate mahogany bar back lay at the end of the room, which also featured an attractive mosaic floor. In the middle of the room there was a fireplace with a faience surround, with a moulded plasterwork ceiling above. The pub had been developed in Edwardian times, with the interior pretty much untouched since 1902 when it was rebuilt for its owner, a Mr Edward Wilson by architect W.Mason Coggill fom nearby Stourton, with much of the work on the pub done by the local companies Burmantofts and J. Claughton.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/mild_type_illustration.jpgAt Craft Beer and Brewing Josh Weikert has a substantial piece about how to brew mild (https://beerandbrewing.com/wild-for-mild/), drawing on advice from Ron Pattinson and Martyn Cornell:
For his part, Pattinson is an evangelist for the use of sugars—especially No. 3 invert sugar—as well as caramel to achieve mild’s characteristic flavors. While No. 1 is the lightest invert sugar, No. 3 is medium-dark with some molasses-like flavors. “U.S. versions [of mild] are too harsh because they’re using black malt and roasted barley,” he says. “It’s easier to get dark fruit flavors from sugars than it is from malts. Just look at Timothy Taylor Golden [Best] and Dark [Mild]—the only difference is caramel!” Notably, Timothy Taylor—the English brewery best known for its award-winning flagship pale ale, Landlord—markets its Golden Best as a “golden mild ale.”
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/le_coq_eoghan_walsh.jpgSOURCE: Eoghan Walsh.On Substack, where he seems to be most comfortable writing these days, Eoghan Walsh has shared another vignette from drinking in Brussels (https://substack.com/home/post/p-144430760). It’s notable for, among other pleasures, this description of drinking non-alcoholic beer:
There is no warmth to it. It is just a cold glass of sort-of beer, and I drink it too quickly like a lemonade. It leaves no trace behind. Worse, it creates its own disappointment, digging a hole in me and failing to fill it with something else. It’s like a yawn that doesn’t catch.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/youngs_logo.jpgAt Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Ron Pattinson (it’s that man again) has been sharing recipes for Young’s beers from the 1970s (https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/05/1970-youngs-ordinary-bitter-pa.html):
A surprise about Young’s 1970s records, is that there’s quite a bit single-gyle brewing… There’s just pale malt, though three different lots, from two different maltsters. (Four, actually, as there’s some enzymic malt.) Accompanied by quite a bit of flaked maize and a little bit of No. 1 invert sugar. As well as malt extract, which I assume was in liquid form… Two types of English hops were used. With no indication of variety. Or age. It’s one of the few areas where the logs are weak. Though it does mention that 25% weren’t added to the copper, but to the hop back. Hence the zero minute addition.
This is especially interesting because, as those of you who’ve read our book Brew Britannia will know, Young’s Bitter was one of the beers that inspired the founding of CAMRA (https://boakandbailey.com/2017/09/the-ram-rampant/), with its legendary dry bitterness. Except Ron’s recipe doesn’t really suggest it was any more bitter than most other beers of the time. When we asked about this on Mastodon (https://mastodon.online/deck/@patto1ro/112405095133111107), Ron said that perhaps it was more highly attenuated. (More of the sugars were fermented out.) Hmm.
Finally, from Instagram, news of a very special pub opening in Wales (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/10/beloved-cardiff-pub-demolished-in-2012-reopens-after-brick-by-brick-rebuild-on-new-site)…
View this post on Instagram
(https://www.instagram.com/p/C5VjmTii_Ep/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
A post shared by Amgueddfa Cymru (@museumwales) (https://www.instagram.com/p/C5VjmTii_Ep/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
For more good reading check out Stan Hieronymus’s round-up from Monday (https://appellationbeer.com/blog/monday-beer-reading-whales-haters-a-tap-list-from-hell/) and Alan McLeod’s from Thursday (https://abetterbeerblog427.com/2024/05/09/only-one-thing-overshadows-eurovision-could-it-be-these-thursday-beery-news-notes/).
News, nuggets and longreads 11 May 2024: Daybreak Express (https://boakandbailey.com/2024/05/news-nuggets-and-longreads-11-may-2024-daybreak-express/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2024/05/news-nuggets-and-longreads-11-may-2024-daybreak-express/)